INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

TRANSPORTATION

SECOND STAGE of the 960 km Iraqi pipeline across Saudi Arabia (IPSA-2) started up last week, boosting Iraq's export capacity to 3.5 million b/d. IPSA-1, first stage of the $2.7 billion, 1.65 million b/d system, started up in September 1985 with throughput of 500,000 b/d. The system links Iraq's southern oil fields with the Yanbu export terminal on the Red Sea.

SAUDI ARABIA gave Morocco $50 million toward cleanup of the oil spill from the damaged Iranian tanker Kharg 5 off Morocco's Atlantic Coast (OGJ, Jan. 8, Newsletter).

MARKETING

VENEZUELA'S MARAVEN SA and Elf Aquitaine signed a 5 year marketing agreement under which Maraven will sell Elf-licensed marine lube products in Colombia, Ecuador, and the Caribbean under Maraven's brand. State owned Maraven sold 1,000 metric tons of lubricants in 1989, exporting 20%, and plans to sharply hike exports of lube bases and finished products the next 2 years.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

QATAR GENERAL PETROLEUM CORP. completed 16 wells in first phase development of the 150 tcf North offshore gas field, OPEC News Agency reported. The project is about 70% complete, with production facilities due for tow-out in 2 months and to be installed by midyear. First phase production is planned at 750 MMcfd of gas and 50 MMcfd equivalent of gas liquids and condensate.

INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) targets production of 343 million bbl of oil and 1.059 tcf of gas and plans to boost its number of drilling rigs to 225 from 150 in 1990-95. ONGC let contract to Lloydsteel, London, for a $13 million mat supported jack up for drilling off Madras, India. Delivery is expected within 6 months.

ELF PETROLAND BV will apply for a production license, aiming for 1992 start-up, for its gas discovery about 80 miles northwest of Den Helder in the Dutch North Sea. Elf's delineation well K/5a-4, drilled to 12,271 ft, flowed 11.9 MMcfd from one of two zones during tests last month. The August 1988 discovery well flowed at a combined rate of 36 MMcfd from one Permian and two Carboniferous sands, said Bow Valley Industries Ltd., 20.5% interest owner. Operator Elf holds a 30.106% interest in the discovery.

GOVERNMENT

INDIA hiked the royalty for Assam crude by 900/bbl to $2.62/bbl. New Delhi plans to develop a formula for fixing crude production royalties that will apply uniformly to all states.

EXPLORATION

OIL INDIA LTD. will spud after the September monsoons the first well in a $50 million, three well exploratory drilling program in the Saurashtra offshore area. The first well is planned in 1991-92, the other two in 1992-93.

PAKISTAN'S Oil & Gas Development Corp. plans two or three more wells at its Bhal Syedan oil and gas field discovery about 52 km southwest of Islamabad. Plans call for the field to produce about 1,000 b/d when it goes on stream in 10-11 months. The discovery, OGDC's fourth of note in the past 6 months, expands the prospective area of the northern Indus basin.

QUEBEC awarded BHP Petroleum (Canada) Inc. 16 exploration licenses covering 340,900 hectares in the St. Lawrence lowlands portion of the province. That brings BHP's total licenses to 19 along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River between St. Hyacinthe and the U.S.-Canadian border. Covering an initial 5 year term, the licenses were effective Jan. 1. In 1986, BHP and Quebec's energy agency Soquip signed a pact giving BHP access to Soquip data and Soquip the opportunity to participate in BHP wells drilled on the licenses.

CHINA'S northwestern Shaanxi province yielded an oil field discovery with reserves estimated at 70 million bbl, Xinhua News Agency reported. Seven wells have been drilled in the shallow reservoir in the Nanniwan agricultural area, and three are expected to be highly productive.

PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT of Oman estimates reserves in its Saih Nihayda gas field discovery in Central Oman at 353 bcf, OPEC News Agency reported. The discovery well, drilled in June 1989, flowed as much as 21.2 MMcfd.

TUSKAR RESOURCES PLC reported the 1 Zeynel well, operated by Aladdin Middle East in the Gaziantep district of Southeast Turkey flowed 320 b/d of 30 gravity oil through a 1/4 in. choke from the Sayindere formation at 4,700 ft. The well is about 7 1/2 miles southwest of Karakus oil field. Aladdin also is preparing to run production tests at 1 Nemrut, which found oil in the deeper Karababa formation on the eastern flank of the same structure.

COMPANIES

NIPPON OIL Exploration Co. acquired Marathon Oil Co.'s 17.55% interest in a production sharing contract spanning part of Central Sumatra and the Malacca Strait for $50 million, Kyodo News Agency reported. Nippon will take delivery of 4,000-5,000 b/d proportional to its interest at the end of January from the 55,00060,000 b/d concession operated by Hudbay Oil (Malacca Strait) Ltd.

PROCESSING

INDONESIA'S first polypropylene plant is to start up in fourth quarter 1991, making the country self-sufficient in that commodity, OPEC News Agency said. Tri Polyta Indonesia signed a contract last month for the $260 million, 200,000 ton/year plant planned at Cilegon, West Java, with main contractor Toyo Engineering Corp. and technology supplier Union Carbide Corp. Feedstock will be imported until an aromatics plant planned at Cilacap, Central Java, is completed in 1993.

INDONESIA invited Kuwait to participate in building its proposed 250,000 b/d EXOR export refinery complex in the eastern part of the country.

KUWAIT Petrochemical Industries Co. will invite private companies to invest in its proposed $100 million, 100,000 ton/year polypropylene plant. Most of the production is destined for export to the Persian Gulf and Far East. KPIC is preparing a request for bids on design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the plant.

LNG

NISSHO IWAI CORP. soon will begin a full scale feasibility study of jointly developing an LNG project in the South China Sea off China's Hainan Island with ARCO and China National Offshore Oil Corp. It would involve ARCO's 3 tcf Yinggehai gas field and call for a $1 billion project to produce about 1.5 million tons/year of LNG for sale to Japan.